Personal Radiation Protection and Corresponding Dosimetry in Interventional Radiology: An Overview and Future Developments

Background The increasing number of minimally invasive fluoroscopy-guided interventions is likely to result in higher radiation exposure for interventional radiologists and medical staff. Not only the number of procedures but also the complexity of these procedures and therefore the exposure time as well are growing. There are various radiation protection means for protecting medical staff against scatter radiation. This article will provide an overview of the different protection devices, their efficacy in terms of radiation protection and the corresponding dosimetry. Method The following key words were used to search the literature: radiation protection, eye lens dose, radiation exposure in interventional radiology, cataract, cancer risk, dosimetry in interventional radiology, radiation dosimetry. Results and Conclusion Optimal radiation protection always requires a combination of different radiation protection devices. Radiation protection and monitoring of the head and neck, especially of the eye lenses, is not yet sufficiently accepted and further development is needed in this field. To reduce the risk of cataract, new protection glasses with an integrated dosimeter are to be introduced in clinical routine practice.